Taken
by redfox1303
Summary: Set after IWTB; Mulder and Scully are trying to live their lives in normality. But how long can they play games for? The unnatural always seems to find them, and this time it is in the form of a teenage boy of which Mulder ends up councelling at the High School. Disclaimer: Not mine. Chris Carters etc etc
1. Chapter 1

Mulder watched as the recovery truck hoisted the remains of his car from the ditch. In true fact, it was Scully's car that had been rammed into during one of his dynamic chases, hightailing it after the suspect. He was a dead man when he got home. It had been less than a year since he destroyed her last one.

The truck heaved the remains back up the slop, dropping it heavily as it reached the tarmac. It crashed under the weight of itself, setting the alarms off.

Mulder swore under his breath.

He sighed and proceeded to clamber through the broken front window to retrieve his phone.

It was sodden, either from the stream he'd been in moments before or the rain that had poured through during recovery.

"Son of a…"

"Excuse me, agent" The female officer had her jacket pulled up over her head against the elements.

"Thank you for all your help in catching this guy, Agent Mulder; Director Skinner will be in contact"

"Can you tell Walter he owes me a Mercedes" He swerved on the spot, trying to ignore his own annoyance at the situation.

"Hey, can I have a ride into town; I'm going to need to take a cab home?"

"Sure thing; sorry about your car, sir"

They were both beginning to feel the chill of the November night's air as they headed towards the officers hire car. It was much calmer inside. Protected from the wind, the pattering of rain bounced off of the windscreen.

The ignition rumbled awake.

"What's your name?" Mulder asked out of politeness.

"Amanda Myers"

"Thank you, Amanda, I appreciate it; would you believe this kind of thing happens to me a lot"

She pulled away from the site. The FBI team had almost finished packing up the scene, and neither of them wanted to hang around for longer than need be.

"You should get that looked at, it looks nasty" The officer gestured to the head wound he'd sustained on impact.

He wiped some of the blood away with his sleeve having forgotten his latest injury.

"My wife is a doctor, she'll sort it out"

After she'd finished killing him over the car, he thought. He'd been back working in the psychological profiling division for a few months now but it just wasn't holding the interest that the X-files used to bring to the table.

Admittedly it had been nice to focus his mind on something other than the inevitable 'end of the world'. So much uncertainty surrounded that date that it had driven him insane. Getting back into some sort of normality would be good for him, or at least put Scully's mind at ease over his sanity.

"You're somewhat of a legend at the FBI…"

She interrupted his chain of thought.

"Uhh, yeah, so I hear… for all the wrong reasons I suspect; I never exactly played by the rules back in the early days… or ever, come to think of it"

He was reminded of the frequent visits to Skinner's office, Scully by his side, as they'd both try and blag their way out of a probation for insubordination. A situation he had likely put them in in the first place. None the less, Scully would be beside him helping cover his ass. He loved her for many reasons but her loyalty always amazed him.

….

Back at the house, Mulder trudged along the gravel driveway after paying for his cab ride. The warm yellow lights glow welcomingly from the front room where he knew Scully would be curled up on the couch with a mountain of paperwork surrounding her.

He wrestled of his soggy boots and pealed back the clothes that stuck to him with dampness.

"Mulder, did you take a cab home?" Scully asked from the other room.

When he didn't answer she padded over in her slippers to investigate.

"You're drenched; and what happened to your head?"

She fussed over him with a mixture of empathy and annoyance. It was typical for Mulder to rock up with a look that told her he'd nearly lost his life again, it was unsettling to say the least.

"We got the bad guy," He explained, trying to avoid the situation.

"You crashed my car again, didn't you?" She said, reading him like a book.

"I- how did you-?"

She helped him out of his jacket and pants whilst Mulder aired on the edge of caution awaiting her reaction.

"I know you; you've got that guilty look you always get"

"I have a guilty look?"

"Yes, it's the same look you'd have when we were pulled up to answer to Skinner"

There was a pause as she led him into the kitchen medical cupboard, abandoning the pile of clothes.

"I _am_ sorry, Scully"

"I don't care about the car Mulder, I care about this," She pointed to his gaping head would and continued to rummage through her first aid kit.

"It's a scratch…" He began, rather confused.

"No, that's not my point, my point is that you're always getting hurt on these cases. At least when we were on the X-files together I could keep a vague eye on you; now I don't know what trouble you're getting yourself into whilst I'm not around"

She was angry at his recklessness but knew it was useless being that way with him. Mulder's personality was entwined with compulsion. She herself was always the cautious of the pair, keeping a level head about her. Mulder's spontaneous ruthlessness was something she knew she had to accept but even now, many years down the line it still worried her.

"This is what we do; it's what we've always done"

He winced as she started cleaning the cut.

"Stop fidgeting" She was forceful holding him still as he subconsciously jarred away.

"I'm getting dejavu' again" He joked.

True, they'd been here many times before. Perhaps that was why she was so unfazed by his evening shenanigans.

"There" She said, fixing the last steri-strip to his forehead.

"I'm going to bed; I've got work early tomorrow"

She left him alone mulling over his actions. Mulder sensed she was angling him for an office job, a safe serial killer free zone behind a desk. He'd have to be good for a while, he decided.

…

"For god's sake, Mulder, will you get ready; our table is booked for 7:30" Scully yelled from behind the study door.

As much as Mulder had avoided thinking about it, the evening had approached where he and Scully had dinner reservations with Scully's work colleague. He hated being sociable.

"I'm ready _now_," He argued back, knowing full well he was still dripping wet from the shower with only a towel wrapped around him.

Glued to the computer screen, he scrolled through news articles on his favourite UFO sightings forum.

"Mulder!"

Scully was stood in the doorframe wearing a disapproving expression. Well manicured as always, she was fiddling with her nice earrings.

"Alright, alright"

He traipsed into the bedroom to search the wardrobe for a shirt.

"This one" She said handing him a hanger, already having anticipated his reluctance.

They took the 4x4, much to Scully's disgust, as her Mercedes was now in a scrap yard in town. Mulder drove. The car smelt strongly of aftershave and perfume, a reminder of the dull evening ahead.

"Promise me you'll be good tonight?"

"You kidding me? I always play nice" he grinned, "What are their names again?"

"I work with Ralph, he's from dermatology, and his wife Susan is an accountant"

"A dermatologist and an accountant; tonight's going to be a wild one" He smiled sarcastically.

She threw him a look that told him not to push it.

By the time they'd finished their starters Mulder was contemplating suicide. He'd near enough extinguished his library of small talk and was wondering if faking an illness or some such would get him out of the dinner quicker.

"So Mulder, Dana tells me you've started back at your old job with the FBI is that right?" The doctor asked.

"Mhm" He took a swig of his wine, "Yeah, it's good to be back in the game"

"What exactly is it that you do there?"

He felt Scully tense next to him, as though warning him not to reveal how bizarre of a couple they were in chasing aliens and the like.

"Psychological profiling; but uh, actually I was thinking of putting in for a desk job"

Scully hid her surprise very poorly as she almost chocked on a mouthful of bread.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting too old for the field; lets just say my glory days of chasing bad guys down alleys is coming to an end of its era"

"Well, you know there is a job opening up at the high school as a school counsellor" Ralph began, "Susan does the school's accounts, she knows a few of the staff; if that was something you might be interested in…"

Mulder had hoped he was appeasing Scully's angst over his work at the FBI but found he was now lost for words. He was digging himself a hole he wasn't quite sure he wanted to be digging.

By the end of the night they'd all survived the dinner. Mulder had escaped with only a single kick under the table that Scully had directed when he'd made a tasteless dermatologist joke. He was more amused by the look on Ralph's face than the actual joke.

….

As they climbed into bed that night the smell of expensive restaurant food and wine stuck to their bodies. They snuggled down under the sheets together, and Mulder held her close.

"Did you mean what you said, at the restaurant?" she asked him, content in his embrace.

Mulder knew exactly what she was talking about. She clearly wanted him out of the line of danger, and in her opinion, anywhere other than the field was a good place to be aiming.

"I'll look into it" he replied.

It was the easiest thing to say for the time being, but Mulder couldn't help pondering over the idea of child psychologist. After all, he was beginning to lose interest with the FBI already. A school would be a whole new world of challenge.

Scully's fingers drifted up his thigh, her light touch tingling his skin. Before long they were lost in a whirlpool of soft kisses and gentle caressing. They made love together, as passionately as ever. A romance that had blossomed with age rather than wither as often most do.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, Mr Mulder, your résumé is impressive to say the least"

The deputy principle was a kindly woman. She portrayed an air of clemency but Mulder was sure she could be firm should the occasion call for it.

"Thank you" he replied.

"But, may I ask; why the sudden career change?"

The small office where the interview commenced was plastered in motivational posters and advice flyers on mental illness. Mulder wondered whether this was truly what he wanted. He sat uncomfortably in his itchy suit, remembering why he never wore it.

"I was looking for something a little different, challenging, I suppose"

"Nothing can be more challenging than adolescents" She smiled, "Do you have children, Mr Mulder?

"I have a son"

"You'll understand where I'm coming from then" She continued to smile but Mulder could not return the gesture.

Both he and Scully had experienced many years of heartache over the loss of William. Though it pained him to think about the separation, it hurt more to simply say he had no son.

William was a topic they rarely discussed at home, the pain too great to keep dredging up.

The interview ended quickly and Mulder walked away with the job, though he was uncertain whether he was happy about the success, he knew Scully would be thrilled for him.

He soon found himself disorientated in the maze of corridors as he tried to leave. It didn't help that he'd left right in the change over time for classes and the halls were crammed full of teenagers moving about in swarms.

"You look lost" An aged music teacher in a tasteless sweater stood in his classroom doorway shepherding kids. He looked amused at the newcomer's confusion.

"Main entrance?" Mulder asked over the loudness of voices.

The man pointed down the corridor.

"To the end and turn left"

"Thanks"

Mulder found his car in the parking lot and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door was closed behind him. He sunk into the seat with his hands rested on the steering wheel and took a good look at the concrete building that he would be seeing a lot of come Monday.

After a few moments, Mulder noticed the figure by the side of him. The boy was stood facing away towards the bike racks. His body shrugged over, he had a messy head of hair and frayed jeans.

Mulder started the car but the figure didn't respond. If he pulled forward he'd run him over. Kids were getting stupider these days, he decided, rolling down the window.

"Hey buddy, do you want to move over?"

The boy turned round, and after realising stepped aside out of the way.

The bike he'd been studying was bent at the frame with the wheel caved in. Either he'd had a nasty accident or gotten on the wrong side of the school thug.

"What happened to your bike?" Mulder asked as he pulled away.

"Nothing" The kid reacted, and proceeded to unlock the broken bike.

Mulder put it down to the cruelties of life and drove homewards. After all, it was all part of growing up. Some people had a harder time than others, but nonetheless it was character building.

….

As imagined, Scully was happy for him for getting the job. They celebrated that evening and Mulder was beginning to feel more optimistic about the opportunity.

Over the weekend Mulder found Scully as he came back in from the store. He placed the armful of groceries on the kitchen counter only to hear the sound of faint sobbing.

He approached the bedroom cautiously, aware that he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. Scully never was one for showing her emotions, particularly not when they made her appear vulnerable.

Carefully he pushed open the door. She sat on the foot of the bed with an opened cardboard box placed next to her. Mulder recognised it immediately. The box of William's old baby clothes and toys; the very few items they had left that never went with him to his adoptive family.

They didn't even have pictures of their son on the walls any more. She'd asked him to take them all down when it got too hard for her.

Mulder went in and sat down next to his beloved partner without saying a word. She dabbed her eyes but didn't look at him.

He delved into the box pulling out a small baby grow patterned with dinosaurs. It reminded him of the particular night William had been crying non-stop for no apparent reason.

Scully had retreated to bed too exhausted to stay up with him any longer and so Mulder had taken over. Those damn dinosaur patterned pyjamas had been staring at him all night as he tried to rock William to sleep.

Mulder smiled at the thought.

Scully handed him a 'Martin the Martian' loony tunes toy, a present from Walter. They both chuckled together, and as she smiled another tear rolled down her cheek.

He pulled her into a tight embrace. One that let her know they shared the same pain.

"I thought it would get easier, with time… you know" she mumbled into his sleeve.

They went through the same routine. He'd boil the kettle and make them a cup of coffee and they'd drink and cuddle and reminisce the evening away. It helped them both. Enough that they could go back to their lives the following day pretending all was well.


	3. Chapter 3

By the afternoon of Monday, Mulder had been swamped with referrals of angsty teenagers. The majority of students he'd 'counselled' were prepubescent girls with boyfriend troubles whom declared their lives genuinely over because "Justin dumped me and is now going out with Megan".

He sighed deeply and collapsed in the comfy chair.

He wasn't used to this line of work. His background in psychology and negotiation was proving little use to the demands of this current position.

Mulder believed his empathy towards others would help with understanding, but he found no sympathy in the issues that were bought to the table.

Was high school really like this when he was a kid?

After all, he remembered near nothing of his college years. Those were the times he was so driven by his sister's abduction that every waking moment was spent searching for answers. It was a wonder they didn't forget him out of the yearbook.

Just as Mulder was digging into the sandwich Scully had made him, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" He said through a mouthful of tuna.

The door creaked open and a familiar face confronted him. He recognised the kid but couldn't place him.

"Kid with the bike…?" He said slowly, as though guessing an answer in a game show. It was indeed the boy he'd almost run over.

"It's Henry"

"Henry, you must be my 2:15" Mulder searched through his schedule, running his finger down the notes for a background on the kid.

"What happened to Miss Gilday?"

"She took a leave of absence, I'm her replacement; Mulder"

Henry took a seat in the opposite chair, dropping his backpack carelessly under his feet. There was an air of frustration to the boy's movements, giving the impression another was forcing him there.

"Henry, I don't have a lot of notes on you here at all, you might have to fill me in on some things"

"Look, you should know that I'm not some weird kid with a load of insignificant problems. I'm here because my Mom happens to work in this shit hole of a school and she thinks my Dad leaving has somehow messed me up. I'm doing just fine and I wish people would get off my case"

"Is that why you skipped your last four sessions with Miss Gilday?" Mulder asked noticing the big red pen scribbles through his name.

There was a pause before either of them spoke.

"It says here that I have to sign to say you've been attending these sessions"

"My Mom found out I was skipping" Henry rummaged through his bag to find a school planner, which he then slid across the table for signing.

"If you don't think you need to be here, have you spoken to your mother about that?"

"You don't know my Mother, she can be very uncooperative"

Mulder signed the form without a lot of thought on the direction they'd continue the conversation.

"What's with the poster?" Henry asked nodding at the 'I want to believe' UFO poster Mulder had pinned to the filing cabinet.

"Just personalising the place, it's kind of an heir loom of my previous jobs"

As the planner was shoved back into the backpack some bits tumbled out of the front pocket. Mulder bent down to retrieve the white bottle that had rolled under his desk. Seizure medication.

"You suffer seizures, Henry?" Mulder asked with only a glimpse of the label on the medication.

The boy looked a mixture of embarrassed and annoyed of the intrusion of privacy.

"Sorry, just curious, I suffer them when I was a kid"

Mulder was struggling to find any form of common ground.

"You-a, you said your Mom works here"

"Yeah, in the English department; Mrs Wyles"

"I'll have a word with her"

"About what?"

"Well you told me you didn't think you needed to be here, neither do I"

Mulder pulled out an apple from his lunch and turned to his laptop screen. With forty-five minutes till his next sitting he planned to get on top of a few admin bits.

"You can go, Henry, don't worry, I'll speak with your Mom"

The boy stood and offered a hand to shake "Thanks, ah…"

"-Mulder"

"Thanks, Mulder"

They shook hands and Henry left, happy with the arrangement.

"Hey, kid, did you manage to sort your bike out?" Mulder caught him just as he was about to disappear behind the door.

"My step dad helped me out"

"Good, don't let them push you around like that"

"Thanks for those words of wisdom" He said with an edge of sarcasm.

Henry left and Mulder couldn't help smile to himself. Strange kid.

He imagined what sort of a teenager William would turn out to be. He'd hoped William would have inherited Scully's 'higher end of the popularity scale in college' genes. Unlike him; a whole different category, one of which no other fell into.

In fact, if they'd met in high school Mulder was sure their paths would never have crossed, they simply would not have moved in the same circles.

….

That evening in the Mulder residence, both he and Scully were knackered.

"How was your first day?" she asked him

"Exhausting. Who would have thought kids could be so tiring?"

He kissed her cheek and headed for the shower leaving a trail of clothing as he went.

"How was yours?"

"Long"

Scully frowned at the clothes, knowing it would be a daylong argument of trying to get him to clean up after himself. At least in his study the explosion of mess could be shut away.

She flicked the answer machine on and then ignored it. Following him into the shower, she decided they could both do with some de-stressing.

The doorbell rang just as they were getting intimate.

"Ignore it" Mulder said in between shallow breaths; the two of them lost in pleasure.

It rang again followed by loud knocking.

Scully's strokes slowed, as she grew more concerned over the door.

"Don't - worry - about it, Scully," He was almost begging her to continue.

"Don't move" she instructed, and wrapped a dressing gown around her to investigate the door.

Mulder's head leant back against the tiles as water ran down his front. Left hanging, he thought.

"Walter?" Scully's voice came from the other room. She was both confused and pleasantly surprised to see him.

Mulder guessed he'd best make an appearance and grabbed a towel himself.

"How's my big, bald, beautiful friend doing?" Mulder embraced him, amused by the fact he was getting Skinner's expensive suit wet.

It must have been strange for Skinner in a way; the many years of seeing his two agents together as platonic partners and now a married couple. Everyone had seen it coming at the force; they'd always been an inseparable pair.

"I left messages on your machine but I couldn't get through. I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd drop by. I may have something of interest for you, Mulder"

"Is it a Mercedes?" Mulder asked jokingly.

"Yeah, I heard about that; sorry about your car"

"My car" Scully interrupted.

Skinner threw him a look of 'bet you got your ass kicked for that one'.

"Disturbances in Nome; missing persons and strange disappearances of individuals. Sounded like your forte Skinner handed them a document.

"I've actually just started a new job, but I'll certainly look in to it, thanks"

"Ah, they don't tell me anything back at the bureau"

….

Mulder chucked the document on his bedside drawer, as they got ready for bed that night. The Nome case intrigued him, and he decided he'd take it to work the following day to investigate further.

He still had to speak with Mrs Wyles about Henry, he noted; vaguely wondering how bad things were for the kid.


	4. Chapter 4

Mulder sipped his steaming coffee whilst browsing the Internet at his desk. 'Nome disappearances', 'Missing persons of Nome', 'unexplained phenomenon, Nome'; the keyboard tapped away with each new search.

The office door swung open abruptly, almost sending coffee flying everywhere as Mulder jumped with surprise.

"Are you Mr Mulder?" the woman stood looking rather agitated.

"Yes, have we met?" Mulder asked, wondering what he'd done to piss someone off already.

"My name is Mrs Wyles, I work in the English department upstairs; you're supposed to be taking on my son, Henry for counselling"

"Nice to meet you Mrs Wyles, actually I was hoping to come and find you today to talk about Henry"

Mulder leant forward to shake her hand, only to roll his wheelie-chair over some sunflower seed shells on the floor.

"Henry has already spoken to me about you; said that you didn't think it necessary for him to be seeing you"

She stood with an aggressive stance as though ready to go in all guns blazing.

"Well, I was going to talk to you about it, yes, but… Mrs Wyles, perhaps you should listen to your son, he obviously doesn't think he needs to be here"

"Henry doesn't know what he wants!"

She cupped her hands against her face suddenly realising the irrational mess she was portraying. Normally a calm and collective woman, Mrs Wyles was quickly losing control and she was shocking herself seeing it.

"I'm sorry" she breathed, "I don't know what came over me"

Mulder rose from his desk and offered a tissue to the woman.

"Please, take a seat" He gestured towards the opposing chair, to which the woman sunk in to slowly.

"I just don't understand what's going on in my son's head"

"Henry is at a difficult age, teenage boy's are never easy to get through to, Mrs Wyles"

She dabbed her eyes with the tissue, still unsatisfied with the outcome.

"Do you mind if I ask you about your husband?" Mulder pressed, very much aware he was treading on eggshells.

He felt her cringe at the question, "Henry mentioned his father left; it would help me understand a little more of what is going on beneath the surface, if I knew more of the details"

"My late husband was an adulterous man. He was cheating on me with his bitch of a work colleague. The whole town knew; I was ashamed to be associated with him"

"I'm sorry to hear that"

"You want to hear the worse part? The coward ran off alone, leaving me, and his new piece on the side. No one ever heard from him again, he just disappeared off the face of the Earth. The police opened a case but they never found him"

"Why did the police open a case if they thought he'd just done a runner?"

"My husband had some strange attributes, Mr Mulder, and I'm very much aware that these may have had some negative impacts on Henry"

"Can you elaborate on that at all?"

"We would find him in strange places. One time we found him nearly twenty miles from home and he had no idea how he'd gotten there. I thought he'd been blind drunk and taken a cab, but he never touched a drop of alcohol that night. There were lots of occasions like that. The police often picked him up, so the day he left us they assumed they'd find him, but they never did. It was very confusing for Henry"

Mulder felt his pulse race. The excitement was building as the pieces of puzzle fell into place. It had abduction spelt all over it. He had to control himself not to engulf Mrs Wyles in his wild theories, at least not whilst she was in a fragile state.

"Henry suffers seizures; did your husband?"

She gave him a strange look, "What does that have to do with anything?"

The school bell screeched loudly through the corridors, taking them both by surprise.

"I have a class to teach, excuse me Mr Mulder; thank you for your time"

"Call me Mulder. I'll continue to see your son Mrs Wyles; I think there may be more to this than any of us think"

Grateful but also confused she left the office pulling the door too behind her.

This just got interesting, Mulder thought to himself.

….

Scully lounged on the sofa that evening in their countryside home. The television buzzed quietly in the background but neither of them were really watching. Her feet were rested on his legs under a blanket and they huddled warm together.

"Mulder"

"Mhmm" He was indeed away in wonderland.

"There is a definite air of relentlessness radiating off of you. What are you pondering over?"

"Just some work related things; a kid at school I've taken on"

"Is everything okay?" She asked concerned, knowing just how much her patients affected her emotionally. She never truly left work. Many of the cases followed her home.

"Yeah, it's just an interesting case"

He kissed her skin softly and tucked her under the throw rug, leaving to go and do a search on his computer.

Fiddling in the dark for the power button, the computer bleeped awake.

"Glasses" Scully yelled from the other room.

She was forever on his back about wearing glasses for work. His eyes had been abused over the years by the sheer number of all-nighters pulled in the office traipsing through paperwork or trawling websites. The good old days.

The truth was they knew each other all too well.

He punched in the full name of the father, expecting to find very little results. One article found. Mulder bought up the page and scrolled through. 'Local man goes missing'. There was nothing that stood out about the case. The man looked familiar, probably due to the resemblance of Henry.

….

They fell asleep together, Mulder's large arms wrapped around Scully's small frame. Once again, spooning had turned into something more. After release neither of them had bothered to grab blindly for the tissues. Instead they'd fallen asleep while he was still inside her.

In the depths of his dreams Mulder relived his nightmare, a nightmare that he'd managed to keep at bay for many months up until now. All the familiar sounds, smells, and pains flooded back to him. The fear, and the darkness, and so many bodies…

He bolted awake gasping for air and close to tears, and as always Scully was by his side holding his shoulders and trying to ease him out of the terror. She was used to it by now.

The unidentifiable body left dead in the corner of the hellhole that was always there in his memories had suddenly become recognisable.

Without a word to Scully, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, climbed out of bed and over to the computer screen in the study.

As the screen came back to life he was met by the face he now understood where he knew from. He doubled back to the date, the date that matched the time of his abduction, and the abduction of Billy Myles.

Mulder flopped back into the chair, eyes fixed firmly on the mug shot of Mr Wyles.

Scully came in silently, and with open arms he melted right into her. She hugged him, held him, and helped him back to their bedroom where she then brushed her fingers through his hair delicately until he'd calmed down enough to sleep once more.


	5. Chapter 5

"Henry, I want to talk to you about your Dad"

The boy slouched, totally uninvolved in the conversation. He handled a slinky he'd helped himself to from Mulder's desk, playing with it between hands.

Mulder leant across and grabbed the toy in a swift movement.

"Will you at least try and work with me here?"

Henry pushed himself upright.

"I don't like talking about my father"

"I get that. But it might help me understand what's going on in your head. The kind of things you're dealing with"

Mulder had already decided what the boy was going through, and probing around in the scared teenager's mind was becoming tiresome. It was clear he was not going to give in easy.

"This whole shrink business of divulging your innermost thoughts to a complete stranger; I don't buy it. I don't know anything about you, why should I trust you?" Henry responded.

Mulder took a moment to compose himself.

"Okay" he began, "I want to help you because I believe you are going through something out of the ordinary. Something that you can't talk to people about because you're scared of what they might think. You know what happened to your father, but only you know, and you've kept that to yourself because you don't want to accept it as truth. Because you've had this burden for so long it's got you down, and the only way you can move on with life is by pretending it didn't happen or wasn't real. So you've blocked your Mom out of the picture to keep from having to deal with your father's disappearance, and now all she wants to do is make you confront it because she thinks it's what's changed you. All the while, you're pissed of at the world for doing this to you, and you think you're crazy but have to hide it so they don't put you in an institution"

The look of shock on Henry's face was enough to confirm Mulder's assumptions.

"Tell me I'm wrong" Mulder dared him.

The boy waited a while before choosing his words.

"You're not like the other teachers, or therapists. You're far more insane"

Mulder sniggered. The kid had got him sussed out just as much.

"Who are you, really? I mean, how do you know these things?" Henry pressed.

"It's not such a rare occurrence. I've seen lots of cases like yours. I used to work on a division that dealt with unexplained phenomenon"

"Explains the poster, I guess," He gestured to the 'I want to believe' poster mounted on the wall. "Is that who you lost? The girl in the picture"

"My sister. They took her when I was a little younger than you are now"

Henry gave away the slightest hint of sorrow. "and you; have you ever, you know… been taken too?"

"…yes. But a while ago now"

Henry shuffled uncomfortably, not quite sure whether to trust the man in front of him. It was all too coincidental that this guy could relate to his situation.

There were so many questions Mulder wanted to ask but the overwhelming realisation that he'd witnessed the boy's father's death was swirling in the back of his mind. How could he reveal such a thing to Henry? Who knows, the kid could have thought his father was still alive.

"I have a question. Why is it that you came back? Why did they let you return but not my Dad. What the hell defines whether you live or die in that place?"

It could have been pent up frustration, but the boy was clearly annoyed that his father had not come back from the lights that had taken him.

"I don't know" Was all Mulder could manage.

"We just got lucky, huh?"

Henry packed up his backpack.

"What are you doing?" Mulder asked, confused.

"The session finished ten minutes ago"

"Wait, are you okay, I mean - that was a lot to take in all at once…"

Henry stopped dead with his hand still on the doorknob.

"I'm sorry about your sister. But there's a difference between you and me. You want the world to know about colonisation, but I want them to remain ignorant. People are happy. If you take that away from them, what else do we have left? You've got your reasons, and I've got mine. If we can't stop it, surely keeping the world in the dark of what is actually going on is a better bet?"

He pushed through the door and into the hallway, "See you around, Mulder"


End file.
